Steve Promo recently was asked to make thirty (30) railing posts for a hotel on Mackinac Island. All 30 are now done. Steve says it took him 22 minutes per post when he started but with the proper setup to duplicate the posts and his skill he got it down to 10 minutes a post. Posts are made from local soft yellow cedar. Here are some pictures of his project.
This is Steve's setup for duplicating the posts. The old post is mounted behind the soon to be new post and marks are transferred from the old post to Steve's long tool rest and then to the blank to speed up duplication. New posts are turned between centers and sanded.
This is a finished post ready for painting.
Here are many of the finished posts with many more blanks to go stacked behind them.
All the posts are hand turned as opposed to being cut by a computer run machine. Steve's skills make it look easy and they all look the same. Thanks for sharing Steve. Well done.
The meeting was held at Steve Promo's shop where he demonstrated turning a candle stick with a thin center out of curly maple. At the meeting were some bring backs to be auctioned off and many show and tell items. Here are some pictures.
Wood in a resin. Thin wall allows the light to come thru the resin.
A box with a rock on top. The rock has not yet been attached.
Another wood and resin figurine with a light inside.
Box with a metal lid.
Bowl with a polished rock inside.
Bowl of ash and two other kinds of wood
A developmental piece to for 1/3 - 2/3 shape and length 1.6:1 of diameter.
This is the Show & Tell table.
A box with carved tree leaves.
A box with two carved feathers on the lid.
Another Jim Rutledge master piece with antler on lid.
Two of Jim Rutledge's carved feathers auctioned off.
A natural exterior bowl.
A bowl with natural inclusions.
After the discussions of the show and tell items and the bring back auction Steve Promo did a fantastic demonstration on turning long candle holders with a thin center section. Each candle stick meets the 1/3 - 2/4 proportion rule. Here is his presentation.
The club met at Sam Staffan's shop since the high school shop was still under renovations. There were many bring backs and show and tells. Here are some of the pictures.
Bring Backs for auction. Large slabs and split log are ash brought in by Steve Promo.
These two trays were made by Steve Promo, from slabs of ash, two half section from one tray were in the bring backs shown above.
Some of Sam Staffan's work. Bowl has gold leaf trim.
Sam Staffan's offset turning with decoration enhancement.
More of Sam Staffan's work.
This is a video of Steve Promo discussing his show and tell items with some turning insights.
Sunday, October 12, 2025
A Club associate has a wood lathe for sale on Facebook Market Place and the listing is for a Woodfast Lathe Model MC908: Size: 16" turning diameter with 39" between centers. Spindle size: 1 ¼x8TPI. Taper: #2MT in the Headstock and Tailstock. Tailstock: Hollow for drilling. Weight: Approx. 400 pounds. Includes steady rest and accessories.
Located in Carlevoix, Michigan The asking price is reduced to $800. $1,000. The link to the Facebook listing is: https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/1539624124117570/?ref=search&referral_code=null&referral_story_type=post It is also listed on Craigslist.org. Search for woodfast lathe. Contact the owner thru the Facebook or the Craigslist.org listing for more information.
This is a Woodfast MC908 wood lathe. Tools and accessories are shown. Start and Stop controls are on the front. Note the steady rest on the lathe and the tools on the wall.
This is label shows the belt speed settings.
Close up view of accessories.
The tail stock picture is from the Craigslist.org listing.
The club held its August meeting at Sam Staffan's shop. There were many bring backs and many Show and Tell items. Here are some of the Show and Tell items.
Sam Staffan's Risen Vase
More interesting turnings.
Sam Staffan's turnings.
Sam Staffan's turned candle holder.
Sam Staffan discusses his turnings during Show and Tell.
A Jim Rutledge carved feather.
A Jim Rutledge carved fish.
The bring back & Show and Tell Table.
Archie Patterson's turned eggs and a funeral Urn.
Archie discusses his turnings.
Bottom of the bowl and Feathered grain.
We were fortunate to have Paul Neuburger from the Detroit Area Woodturners (DAW) demonstrate off center turning.
Paul brought many samples of his offset turnings and provided many tips about his process.
Here is Paul's introduction remarks to off center turning.
Paul Neuburger explains what he will demonstrate.
The demonstration was recorded in six parts, so please view each section in order. Paul brought several semi-finished turnings and after working on one he gave it away to a holder of a ticket he had given out. Each precipitant was then requested to finish the turning and send Paul a picture of the completed turning.
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5 Part 6 and final clip in the series. Archie Patterson won one of the partially turned off center bowl and took it home and finished it. To sand the bottom, the bowl was placed on a rounded mount block and held in place by a cone shape on the tail stock.
Bowl mounted so the bottom can be sanded.
Finished product.
Bowl finished with Shellac and several coats of whipe on poly.
Bottom of the bowl with a bead added to the bottom.
Many thanks to Paul Neuburger for giving out samples of his work to be finished by our club members.
One final demonstration by Paul of turning an off center finial is shown below.
Our thanks to Sam Staffan for hosting the meeting and allowing Paul Neuburger to use his lathe.
Our appreciation to Paul Neuburger for coming up from the Detroit area and demonstrating his skills and methods for off center turning and for giving some of our members a few of his unfinished projects so they can finish them.
Sam Staffan was nice enough to host our club meeting in his shop in Mackinaw City, Michigan. We watched some pictures on the club's monitor followed by a discussion of the show and tell items, then a drawing for the bring backs and finally a demonstration by Steve Promo of boring tools.
Two items from burl. Beautifully done.
Sam Staffan had some nice small turnings made from branches.
Gary Weiermiller talked about a item he made 30 years ago that was broken by a visitor at the museum that was showing his works. The museum's insurance paid the item owner and the museum let Gary keep the item. It is tall hollow form and one of the early works by Gary.
Left is a butternut end grain bowl and right a small aromatic cedar bowl by Archie Patterson
These were the bring backs auctioned off during the meeting.
Here Steve Promo demonstrates the use of a round nose mill bit as a boring tool bit to produce a smooth interior with a pull cut.
Here Steve Promo explains how to make and use a hook tool. Tool is made from 1/4 inch drill stock yields a very smooth interior cut.
Thanks Steve for the great demonstrations and valuable information.
The club met at the St Ignace High School with a large number of bring backs for the auction and many show and tell items.
Here are the Bring Backs that were given away during the meeting to the lucky wining ticket. Each ticket cost one dollar ($1.00).
Two slabs of bloodwood and three cuts of aromatic red cedar and even some finished items were part of the bring backs.
The finished bowl on the left and the hunk of wood were also part of the bring backs that some lucky members took home. The other items were part of the show and tell session of the meeting.
The large hollow form was purchased by Steve from his mentor and both the inside and the outside are very smooth without sanding. A testament to his mentors skill. The green bowl is an example of Steve's double dyeing and is beautiful.
Here are some example of a member's spalted wood work along with a beautiful box with a walnut lid.
This is another example of wood dyeing to bring out the end grain of the wood. A black dye is applied tot he wood and soaks into the end grain and a light sanding will remove some of the side grain color but the end grain color is deep into the end grain.
More member wonderful work. A natural edge bowl with a natural edge lid with a critter on it. Very striking eye catching.
Steve wrote on the board information about the next four meetings. In September the remodeled shop at the high school should be available for us to meet in again.
Out in the shop Archie Patterson demonstrated the process of creating a buffed finish on hard wood using several buffing wheels to obtain different degrees of finish. This process can be applied to wood with a hard finish applied to b
During the meeting Steve talked about the double dye process of curly maple to bring out the end grain of the wood. Here is his talk followed by his demo.
Thanks to Steve Promo for another great and informative demonstration.
